The Eyes of the Dragon

Ben tells Dennis and Naomi to go faster, though the narrator does not reveal what they are doing. They can hear Flagg yelling, and they are frightened.

Flagg is getting closer. He is still yelling.

Peter finishes tying the knot and begins climbing down the side of the tower. With a leap of faith, he lets go of the iron bar and lets the tiny rope take his full weight. The rope holds, for now.

Flagg continues running up the stairs and yelling. He reaches 200, 250, and then 275 steps.

Ben, Naomi, and Dennis see Peter climbing down. Ben tells Naomi and Dennis to hurry up. They are emptying their cart.

Flagg’s hood falls from his head as he runs. He is almost to the top now.

Peter descends slowly. He is unaware that some of the rope above him has begun to unravel.

Dennis yells up to Peter that he needs to go faster. The cart is emptied, and now Ben, Naomi, and Dennis can only watch. Peter has climbed down halfway, and if he falls from there he won’t survive.

Flagg reaches the top of the stairs and runs to the cell door. He first looks through the spyhole and sees the iron bar from Peter’s bed at the window and realizes what is happening. Flagg screams that he will cut the rope as he opens the door. He charges into the room with axe held high. He looks out the window and sees that Peter is only halfway down, and he decides not to cut the rope.

Peter continues to climb down. He feels very thirsty, so thirsty that he imagines dying of thirst. He looks up and sees Flagg looking down at him. Flagg tells Peter he doesn’t need the axe. Then Peter looks down and sees the three faces looking back up at him. He is still a hundred feet above the ground, but he can no longer move, so he stops there.

Ben, Naomi, and Dennis panic when they realize Peter stopped moving. Then Flagg stops laughing, having noticed the three people at the bottom of the tower. He yells threats down at them, but for now, there is nothing to do but wait.

When Flagg saw the rope, he understood the dollhouse and the napkins, but he also noticed the rope would soon break, and he preferred to let matters take their course for his own amusement. The rope breaks, and Flagg cries out happily, saying goodbye to Peter with triumph, but something happens. Flagg screams with rage so loudly it wakes up more people in Delain than the collapse of the church.

Peter falls down the tower, expecting to die, but he lands on a soft pile of napkins that Ben, Naomi, and Dennis had stacked high beneath him.

At first, everyone thinks Peter is dead, but then Peter sits up, having only been dazed by the fall. Ben whoops and kisses Naomi. Dennis cries out in joy. They hear Flagg screaming with rage. Flagg screams for the guards to kill them all, and slowly the windows begin to light up, and the sounds of footsteps and clashing metal approach the Plaza of the Needle. Meanwhile, Peter is unhurt. Together, they rush to escape the Plaza, and Peter leads them to the west gate.

On the way to the west gate, Peter, Ben, Naomi, Dennis, and Frisky run into seven guards. The guards are still drunk and tired, but the goshawk (corporal) demands that they halt in the name of the king. Ben, Naomi, and Dennis draw their weapons and stand in front of Peter, but Peter calls for everyone to stop. He walks up to the goshawk and announces that he is the king. Peter tells them Flagg killed Roland and is chasing them now. The goshawk, Galen, lifts his sword, but he hesitates and ultimately lets them pass. The guards scatter as Flagg bursts from the Needle screaming in pursuit.

Flagg senses the ruin of his plans and becomes desperate. He runs after Peter, passing the guards without even turning in their direction. Without his hood, Flagg looks like what he is: a demon. He follows Peter toward Roland’s rooms.

Dennis gives Peter the locket. They run to Roland’s rooms because Peter plans to grab his father’s great bow and the arrow Foe-Hammer, which Roland used to slay the dragon Niner because he must slay another dragon.

Thomas lights the fire in Roland’s sitting room and puts on his father’s robe. Then he retrieves his father’s bow and the great arrow Foe-Hammer from their place above Niner’s head. The arrow is still warm from the dragon even two decades later. Thomas then sits down, clutching the bow and arrow, unaware that Peter and Flagg are headed his way.

Peter barges into Roland’s sitting room. He notices that Foe-Hammer is missing. Dennis closes the door behind them and locks it, but Flagg breaks through with a fist glowing of blue fire. He steps forward, still holding the executioner’s axe. Flagg notices Ben, Naomi, Dennis, and Frisky, but he only looks at Peter. He tells Peter the gods only saved him until this moment to die a terrible death. Nobody notices Thomas sitting in the chair behind Peter. Peter meets Flagg’s glare firmly and with a kingly stance. He banishes Flagg from Delain in a voice so thundering—as if all the kings and queens of Delain’s past speak through him—that Flagg flinches but keeps moving toward Peter, swinging his axe.

Flagg reminds Peter that he is guilty of murdering his father. Peter responds that it was Flagg who murdered Roland, not him, and Flagg laughs. Peter shows Flagg the locket, which dangles from his outstretched hand, and he announces Flagg has done the same thing before. He accuses Flagg of framing Leven Valera and murdering his wife. He accuses Flagg of being hundreds of years old, adding that everyone knows in their heart he is a murderer and a monster.

Finally, Flagg admits to killing Roland, but he laughs and says it doesn’t matter because everyone who knows will soon be dead. He confidently states that nobody saw him do it, but then Thomas finally speaks: “There was one other who saw […] I saw you, magician” (363).

Peter turns around and is struck by his brother’s appearance. Thomas looks just like Roland now. He also notices that Thomas has his father’s bow and Foe-Hammer is nocked and ready. Flagg sees Thomas, screams, and raises his axe above his head to charge.

Flagg is afraid. He thinks he is seeing the ghost of Roland, and he charges at Thomas without thinking. Thomas is a good archer, which he inherited from his father. He pulls back the drawstring of Roland’s bow and fires, saying calmly that Flagg told him “only lies” (366). Foe-Hammer is perhaps the greatest arrow ever made, with fletching made from Anduan peregrine feathers. The arrow flies straight through Valera’s locket as it dangles from Peter’s fist, and then, still bearing the locket, plunges into Flagg’s left eye, replacing the eye with the gold heart. Flagg screams and drops the axe, which shatters on the ground. He grabs at his eye, the same one he would clutch after his recent dreams, as black fluid oozes out of it. Then, suddenly, Flagg disappears, and the arrow and locket fall to the ground.

Peter turns to Thomas. Thomas apologizes to Peter and bursts into tears. He says he understands if Peter wants to kill him, but he also says he has already paid dearly for his mistakes. Peter embraces his brother and tells him that he will always love him. They cry in each other’s arms as everyone else leaves.

The narrator opens the final chapter by saying that no, the characters do not all live happily ever after, but they live as well as they could. Thomas and Peter go to the new Judge-General. Peter is arrested again, but only for a couple hours, after which he is restored as the rightful king.

That night, Peter, Thomas, Ben, Naomi, Dennis, and Frisky meet in Peter’s old rooms and drink wine—except Thomas, who declines the wine. Peter wants Thomas to stay in Delain, but Thomas believes the citizens of Delain will blame him for the terrible last five years whether he deserves it or not. Thomas also worries that if he stays in Delain, he might become jealous of Peter again, and he does not want that to happen, so Thomas announces that he will go on a quest to the south to find and kill Flagg. To everyone’s surprise, Dennis announces that he will go with Thomas. He still feels like Thomas is his “master,” and he also wants to atone for his role in Peter’s imprisonment. Thomas is touched by Dennis’s offer and accepts. They depart that night.

Peter is a great king. Ben and Naomi get married. Thomas and Dennis have many strange adventures, and they eventually do find and confront Flagg, but the narrator explains that the “hour is late,” and that confrontation is a story “for another day” (372).